Representing the more primitive, reptile-brained side of life are Seattle’s own Hot Rollers. Now, before I go any further, I feel obliged to point out that I was sent this disc by steb, the boyfriend of the Hot Rollers’ bass player Kirsten Ballweg, and a regular reader of my personal blog. I’ve only met steb once, and I’ve never met Kirsten, but I felt I should point all this out in the interests of full disclosure and blah blah blah. OK? OK.

So. Anyway. The Hot Rollers have a CD out now, called Got Your Number. It’s their debut, unless I’m mistaken. They play rough-and-ready “bad girl” rock, and on the whole they do a fine job of it. Instrumentally they’re just fine (aside from a somewhat clunky bit after the chorus of “Casper Guido”). Drumming for a garage band is pretty much a thankless job – nobody notices you unless you screw up, for the most part. Heidi Jessup’s drumming gets the job done in the calssic style - nothing fancy, just the facts, m'am. The afore mentioned Kirsten handles the bass, throwing in some nice fills here and there as well as a really nice Farfisa organ line on “Casper Guido” that really captures the spookhouse vibe they’re after there. The rhythm section also provide backing vocals throughout. Is it wrong of me to enjoy female backing vocals so much? Those “goo-ooo-ood”s on “Hooker” are what make it for me. And Lori Campion adds the requisite fuzz-addled guitar demanded by discriminating garagistas everywhere.

Campion also handles lead vocals. Vocals in the garage genre can be difficult – you have to present yourself as being “wild” while still retaining vocal cords without nodes on them. It’s a fine line, and not an easy one to walk at times. Campion can definitely air it out, but on the whole her singing here is on the more reserved end of the scale. I suspect that she’s missing the energy and feedback of a live audience.

Lyrically… well, it’s kinda hit and miss sometimes. “Black & Blue” is probably the standout here, full of the snotty punky energy required to pull this sort of thing off. The somewhat slower “Hooker” holds up well; I especially like the opening “48 hours makes a good first date”. I should hope so. And “Hello Vapid”, the band’s condemnation of commercial radio and those who would exploit the musical world for nefarious ends is a welcome salvo in the ongoing culture wars. It’s not really adding anything new to the mix, but it’s reassuring to know there are others who feel the same way about such things.

On the other hand, occasionally The Hot Rollers run into verbal rough sledding. “Mileage” is sonically pretty OK, but the lyric is a little forced. “Wildman” is another awkward lyric: “There is a boy who lives next door / He has a father whom I adore / I asked him for his daddy’s name / He said ‘No way, Miss, he’s a wild man’”. Not entirely cringe-worthy, but close. (And the quote from the “Twilight Zone” theme hits my ears as little misplaced.)

There are several covers on display here, including their splendid take on Holly & The Italians’ “I Wanna Go Home”. Anybody smart enough to own that album, much less cover material from it, automatically gets bonus points. Sadly, I have to revoke quite a few of those points for covering “You May Be Right”. Ladies – Billy Fucking Joel?! Ay-yi-yi! Well, it does go to show that the song doesn’t suck just because it was recorded by Mr. Joel – it’s just a very bad song, and giving it an actual R&R reading ain’t gonna help it. It still sucks ass like ass was goin’ out of style, which is no reflection on the band (aside from the decision to cover it in the first place). The song is just irredeemable.

The production, by Chris Keenan and The Hot Rollers, is decidedly on the sterile side. Garage rock is primitive rock, by definition, so a clean production sorta works against the goal. It gives the proceedings a somewhat tentative air at times, which I am sure is not there at all when the band plays live.

It’s getting late and I need to wrap this thing up and go to bed. Got Your Number, while not without its flaws, is a fairly promising start. The good outweighs the, um, less good, I’d say. And sometimes, that’s really all you can ask.

(The Hot Rollers’ Got Your Number is available from the band’s website.)